Edvin Kurtulus ( sq, Edvin Kurtulush, tr, Edvin Kurtuluş; born 5 March 2000) is a Swedish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Ludogorets Razgrad and the Sweden national team.

Club career

Halmstads BK

At the age of five, Kurtulus started to play football with local club

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved membership in the Swedish Spo ...

. In 2018 and 2019, as a youth player, he went on trial with both Fenerbahçe in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

. On 20 December 2018, Kurtulus signed his first professional contract with Halmstad. On 5 May 2019, he made his debut in

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with All ...

, Sweden's second tier, in a 0–1 loss to

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has previously also compet ...

. After impressing manager

Magnus Haglund Magnus Haglund (born 15 April 1973) is a Swedish football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Halmstads BK. He has previously managed IF Elfsborg and Lillestrøm SK, having signed a two-year contract starting in January 201 ...

, Kurtulus ended the season making 11 league appearances, of which he started ten, mostly as a right-back. In 2020, Kurtulus continued as a starter for Halmstad when the club won Superettan and secured a promotion to

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

. He made 18 league appearances in total, mostly playing as a centre-back, before his season was cut short in September when he was diagnosed with

pericarditis Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium, the fibrous sac surrounding the heart. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp chest pain, which may also be felt in the shoulders, neck, or back. The pain is typically less severe when si ...

. In 2021, Kurtulus was a key player for Halmstad in Allsvenskan, playing 29 league games. The club eventually suffered from a relegation after losing to

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superett ...

with 1–3 on aggregate in the relegation play-offs.

Hammarby IF

On 12 August 2021, Kurtulus signed a three-year deal with fellow Allsvenskan club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

, effective in January 2022. On 20 February 2022, he made his debut with Hammarby in the 2021–22 Svenska Cupen group stage against

Falkenbergs FF Falkenbergs Fotbollsförening, also known simply as Falkenbergs FF, Falkenberg or (especially locally) FFF, is a Swedish football club based in Falkenberg. Formed on 3 January 1928, the club plays in the second highest Swedish league, Superett ...

after coming on as a substitute at 62nd minute in place of Simon Sandberg. His league debut with Hammarby came on 2 April in a 2–1 home win against

after coming on as a substitute at 83rd minute in place of

Richard Magyar Richard Göran Emil Magyar (; born 3 May 1991) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. In a 12-year career, he represented and captained both Halmstads BK and Hammarby IF in Allsvenskan, also spending time abroa ...

. Seven days after league debut, Kurtulus scored his first goal for Hammarby in his fifth appearance for the club in a 1–5 away win over

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its ...

in Allsvenskan. Kurtulus featured in the final of the

2021–22 Svenska Cupen The 2021–22 Svenska Cupen is the 66th season of the Svenska Cupen and the tenth season with the current format. The winners of the competition will secure a spot in the second qualifying round of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, unl ...

, in which Hammarby lost by 4–5 on penalties to

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Associatio ...

after the game ended in a 0–0 draw. In total, Kurtulus went on to make 27 league appearances for the club, that finished 3rd in the 2022 Allsvenskan table. On 17 February 2023, Kurtulus signed a new three-year contract with Hammarby. On 2 April, he was appointed as the new vice-captain of the club, behind Nahir Besara. Throughout the 2023 season, Kurtulus made 27 league appearances in Allsvenskan, although Hammarby disappointedly finished 7th in the table. In August the same year, the club reportedly accepted an offer worth around €3 million from

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

for his transfer, but Kurtulus turned down the move.

Ludogorets Razgrad

In June 2024, he joined Bulgarian team Ludogorets Razgrad.

International career

Kosovo

Under-21

On 29 August 2020, Kurtulus received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 footballtournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia in the 2021 UEFA European Und ...

match against

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

, and made his debut in the 0–6 loss after being named in the starting line-up.

Senior

On 23 May 2022, Kurtulus received a call-up from

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

for the

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League is the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA in Europe. The competition is being held ...

matches against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

(twice) and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. Four days later, the

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo ( sq, Federata e Futbollit e Kosovës; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Associ ...

confirmed through a press conference that Kurtulus will not be part of the team after deciding to represent Sweden national team.

Sweden

On 30 May 2022, the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women – and the men's and women's n ...

announced that FIFA had given Kurtulus permission to play for their national team and that he had been called-up to replace the injured

Victor Lindelöf Victor Jörgen Nilsson Lindelöf (born 17 July 1994) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Manchester United and captains the Sweden national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back. Linde ...

and

Martin Olsson Martin Tony Waikwa Olsson (born 17 May 1988) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left back for Malmö FF and the Sweden national team. Olsson signed for Blackburn Rovers from Högaborgs BK in January 2006. In 2013, Premier Le ...

for the

matches against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(twice) and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. His debut with Sweden came on 9 June in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League match against Serbia after coming on as a substitute in the 42nd minute in place of Joakim Nilsson.

Personal life

Kurtulus was born in Halmstad, Sweden to parents with roots from

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

. His grandparents had emigrated as

muhaxhir Muhaxhir and Muhaxher (plural: Muhaxhirë and Muhaxherë, meaning "Muslim refugees" in Albanian) are Ottoman Albanian communities that left their homes as refugees or were transferred, from Greece, Serbia and Montenegro to Albania, Kosovo and to a ...

to Turkey where they took the surname ''Kurtuluş'' (meaning "liberation" in Turkish) due to the

Turkish surname law The Surname Law ( tr, Soyadı Kanunu) of the Republic of Turkey was adopted on 21 June 1934. The law requires all citizens of Turkey to adopt the use of fixed, hereditary surnames. Turkish families in the major urban centres had names by which the ...

. In the 1960s, Kurtulus' family migrated to Sweden, where Edvin's father was born. Edvin's younger brother Bleon Kurtulus is also a professional footballer and plays for his hometown club of

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtulus, Edvin 2000 births Living people Footballers from Halmstad Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Swedish people of Kosovan descent Swedish people of Turkish descent Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Turkish people of Kosovan descent Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Men's association football fullbacks Superettan players Allsvenskan players Halmstads BK players Hammarby Fotboll players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players